19 September 2010

Open letter to Jackie & Joe:

Health Insurance Companies are the Devil.

I felt that I needed to get that off my chest before going into our latest saga with health insurance. Two years ago I wrote about how Anthem Blue Cross-Blue Shield accepted the other members of my family but rejected me because I had been to a chiropractor for a pulled muscle I got while working out. Finally after appeals and even paying for a month of insurance when they had refused to insure me, they finally took me as "high risk".

Last year we were informed that our insurance was going up 12% (keep in mind here that this is considered catastrophic coverage and that we have never made a claim). This year (after having the insurance for only 2 years!), our coverage was going up an additional 20%. 32% in two years. So, we went looking elsewhere....

Golden Rule, after spending hours on the phone, finally sent us a package (after demanding we pay in advance 1 month). This time I was considered "preferred" (amazing what can happen in 2 years) but our 10 year old, perfectly healthy, son was rejected. The reason? He has sensory issues-which means he doesn't like certain foods and is agitated by bright lights. They said "we don't cover children with any kinds of issues."

Anyone out there that doesn't believe that we need health insurance reform in this country is an imbecile and doesn't have a clue what it is doing to our economy. The Republicans, after sweeping elections in 1994, fought back against health reform in this country. For 14 years the problem grew worse and when Democrats finally were the first to have the guts to do something, they fell short of any kind of meaningful insurance reforms. And now the Republicans are stoking the fire so that they can take over and go back to the way things were.

So, Jackie & Joe......what are you going to do about it? Reform has fallen short of a true remedy to the problem and if the answer is to go back to the way things were it clearly shows you don't understand the issues at hand and aren't qualified to be in Congress.

My answer? End employer provided health insurance. Then EVERYONE will be mad as heck and demand reform. Until then the voter will just go with whichever numskull seems to say what we want to hear-not what is needed.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think you're right, that if employer-provided health insurance went away today, the nation would be in a major uproar tomorrow.

In my family over the years, I've been treated for major depression, my older son for asthma, and my younger son for Asperger's syndrome. We'd all be hosed; insurers wouldn't want to touch us.

The fact that we're easily insured through my employer, and that this coverage is easily reestablished when I change employers because of certain rules that neutralize preexisting conditions when you change employers, mask the problem for people like me. But that doesn't mean it's not there.

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